Advance Planning
by The Breeze
Summary: A Viking visits a Doctor, seeking advice.


Bah. Twilight, although somewhat entertaining at times, is insane dreck at others. Still, this idea popped into my head and I have to purge it from my brain by writing it. In this fic, the Twilight vamps are not as strong as the Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood vamps. I had to tweak them a bit lest there be a power imbalance between the two groups. This is set sometime before the turning of Bella, and also before the Harris-universe revelation of vampires to the humans.

**Advance Planning – A Southern Vampire Mystery / Twilight Crossover**

Carlisle Cullen was tired.

Not literally, of course. Carlisle did not get tired, nor did he sleep. Rather, he was tired of a day of failures. All doctors lose patients, but today Carlisle had lost two, which was a rather substantial number of people to die in one day – at least it was in a small town like Forks. One had been an elderly person who had been suffering for some time, it was true, but Carlisle had believed that the patients' condition had stabilized long enough to perhaps wrest another six months of enjoyable life. He had been wrong, and Mildred Harris had died unexpectedly even as Carlisle had been failing in his fight to preserve a young logger's life after said logger had somehow managed to shatter his skull on a grapple. Head wounds often don't bleed much, but this had been an exception, and the blood had soaked through his clothes to such an extent that Carlisle thought it would be a wise idea to shower before Jasper came home, lest the scent of fresh blood inspire a setback in "the youngest vegetarian's" quest to avoid viewing humans as dinner.

Carlisle sat – out of habit of acting human, not from any need – and began to read an article from an Italian medical website on his laptop. He was actually startled when there was a knock on his front door.

_I heard no approach to the house. Only a vampire could move that quietly._

Once again, there was a polite knock.

_It is not a hostile one of my kind, for they would not bother to knock. It must be a friend or a Nightwalker who must ask permission to enter at any rate._

Carlisle opened the door to behold a thousand-year-old Viking, dressed in blue jeans and a white turtleneck.

Eric Northman did not smile.

"I would like to come in, Doctor Cullen."

Carlisle made a welcoming gesture with his hand.

"Be my guest. You're free to enter."

Eric walked briskly into the house and then stopped short, inhaling and closing his eyes. A moment later, he exhaled, and actually gave Carlisle a sly grin.

"Something smells delicious. Have you been cheating on your diet, Carlisle?"

Carlisle shook his head. "Hardly, Sheriff. You should be able to tell by looking at my eyes. You're smelling Bella, my son Edward's girlfriend. She's under our protection, so I'll thank you to remember that scent and avoid harming her while you're in town." Carlisle did not bother to ask Eric to refrain from hunting in Forks; he knew that the ancient creature who stood in his living room rarely killed his prey unless he was irritated. The ever-practical Eric preferred to glamour his victims after drinking from them and leaving them alive – it wasn't out of any respect for human life but rather a growing respect for modern forensics. It didn't serve any purpose to kill people indiscriminately anymore, unless, of course, they had done something to annoy the towering blond vampire.

Eric shrugged. "I don't deal with you Daywalkers much these days. I forgot the whole eye thing. Does she know about you?"

Carlisle nodded, and Eric actually laughed. "I'm sure the Volutri are just thrilled about that. Why is she still alive?"

"We have promised that she is to be turned at some point in the future."

Eric looked wistful for a moment. "May not matter soon, really."

Carlisle did not have time to ponder this comment, for Eric quickly spoke again in a businesslike voice.

"Do you have a microwave?"

Carlisle was not quite stunned, but was very curious. He had never heard of a vampire asking for a microwave before. For the first time, he saw the older vampire was carrying a small Igloo cooler.

"Yes, Bella uses it sometimes."

"Excellent." Eric turned and walked away, leaving Carlisle standing in his living room wondering what Eric was up to. He heard the clinking of china and glass, pouring sounds and and then a minute later the electronic chime of the microwave as it ended its heating cycle.

Eric came back holding a tall glass, which appeared to be filled with blood.

"A toast, Doctor."

Carlisle took the glass with some apprehension and smelled it. It smelled much, much like human blood. He hissed at Eric, "What is this?"

Carlisle had mixed feelings about Eric, who he had known off and on through the centuries.

_Is the bastard trying to make me drink human blood as some kind of joke?_

"I assure you it is not human blood. Please drink it. I am here by orders of Queen Sophie-Anne, and you know I don't say "please" lightly. It is important."

Carlisle was still unsure – he knew that the Viking was an accomplished liar when it served his purpose - but Carlisle felt that Eric was speaking the whole, unvarnished truth.

He put the glass to his lips.

And drank.

He felt a thirst that he had not felt in centuries, a greedy, primal desire to DRINK, drink until there was nothing left. He wasn't even aware of his tongue coming out of his mouth and licking the inside of the glass, savoring every last drop.

He put the glass down and looked at Eric. "I'm a doctor. I know, intimately, the scent of human blood. That's not human blood, but it's very, very similar. Nor is it the blood of a primate. But it's the most delicious thing I've ever had. What is it?"

Eric snorted. "Delicious. You would say that. It doesn't taste so good to the true vampire."

Carlisle didn't know if "true vampire" was a slur against his humanitarian beliefs or against Daywalkers in general, but did not respond. He merely repeated, "What it is?"

"Synthetic blood. Created by some clever Japanese. It can sustain vampire life."

"Fascinating. The implications-"

"Are more profound than you know, Carlisle. You have never, ever tasted human blood, am I correct?"

Carlisle nodded.

"That's why you think it tastes so good. It's the closest you've ever come. But it's not human blood. It's manufactured. And it can be manufactured relatively cheaply, if the proper economies of scale are introduced."

"What are you saying, Northman?"

"I'm saying there is, at this moment, very serious discussion being given to the idea of revealing ourselves to the humans."

"You can't possibly be serious. The Volturi-"

"Are meaningless to we Nightwalkers. Do you hear me? This is above them. Should we decide – and the decision is by no means settled – to proceed with our revelation, we will not tolerate interference from those Italian pansy-asses. That is one reason I'm here. You are a curiosity and a joke sometimes – a respected joke, if that makes sense, the vampire who protects human life – but you may yet be a prophet. Open co-existence with the humans may come to pass. And you, Doctor, even though you are mocked sometimes for forswearing the delightful tastes of human treats, no vampire, either of the night or day, would dispute your moral strength and integrity. The royalty would prefer not to engage in open war with the Volturi, and perhaps you could be an intermediary."

"I'm no politician."

The Viking warrior flashed his teeth. "Nor am I. Still, here we sit."

"Here we sit," echoed Carlisle.

Carlisle was now truly alarmed. There were two types of vampires in the world – the type that Carlisle represented, those who could walk in the sunlight, were nonetheless considerably weaker and greatly outnumbered by the more traditional vampires. Relations between the two groups had always been tense, but open warfare was nearly unthinkable. Despite their advantage of not needing to sleep during the day, the Volutri-ruled Daywalkers would most likely quickly fall to the more numerous and physically stronger vampires of the night.

A moment passed, and Carlisle spoke again. "So why else are you here?"

Eric smiled. "You don't miss a trick, do you?"

Carlisle made no reply.

"Out of all vampires, your little family has the most experience in living with humans. We want to...consult. This could be the most significant event in the history of our world. We want to make as few mistakes as possible."

"And how do you feel about this possibility? You said the question was still under debate."

\

Carlisle was genuinely curious about what the amoral and powerful, yet practical, older vampire would say.

Eric hesitated. "I am in favor of it, for the most part. Human technology is advancing too fast. Exposure is inevitable. The question is when, not if. Since it is inevitable, I see no reason why should not control the stage so that our interests are protected. Right now, the timing favors us. Pam, who has even more contempt for the humans than I do, also feels that if we control the presentation of ourselves to the world we can not only manage it safely but perhaps profit from it."

Carlisle grinned at the mention of Pam. Despite his pacifist philosophy, he had always been vaguely amused by the superior yet almost playful attitude of Eric's child. He had actually been in England when she had been turned, and he could not recall a vampire who took greater pleasure in leaving their human life behind as irrelevant.

The vampire doctor, who had worked so long to preserve human life, couldn't help but feel optimistic. He knew that if such a powerful being as Eric could grow to support the idea of the revelation, then it would most likely come to pass. A world where vampire and human lived together, openly, in peace. . .

Without warning, Eric walked to the door. He paused.

"This was merely the first discussion, doctor. There will be more. I, and the Queen of Louisiana, thank you for your time. I've left the cooler of the blood substitute in your kitchen. You can dine well with your family tonight. Half power for one minute works best for two cups."

"I look forward to your return, for once, Eric."

Eric smiled. "I will be back in a week or so. I will call first, I would like Edward and this "Bella" there as well."

"Very well. Why?"

"Queen Sophie-Anne will be with me. She wants to ask Edward some questions; she has a sudden interest in telepathy that I don't understand. And I would like to ask Bella some questions about how humans perceive us. Very, very few humans know our secret, so each viewpoint may have some value."

Carlisle narrowed his eyes. "Now I doubt you, Northman."

Eric smiled. "Ok, you got me. I just want to see if she looks as delicious as she smells. Don't worry, don't worry," Eric smirked at Carlisle's pained expression, "I understand she's under your protection. I won't eat her...unless she asks nicely."

Eric suddenly flew out the door and up into the air, leaving Carlisle staring into space, wondering how he was going to explain this to his family.


End file.
